Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This is the place where the great Vaishnava devotee Shrila Shrinivasa Acharya used to stay while performing his bhajana whenever he visited Radha-kunda and his baithaka or sitting place can also be seen here. Shrinivasa used to worship a small Deity of Krishna named Jhula Thakura. The Deity received the name Jhula Thakura because Shrinivasa always kept the Deity in his bead bag. The word ‘jhula’ means ‘bag’ and ‘thakura’ means ‘most worshipful person’. A temple was established in Vrindavana at Dhira Samira near the Gopishwara Mahadeva Mandira, where Shrinivasa performed bhajan and where his Deity is still being worshiped today. Shrinivasa Acharya was a disciple of Gopala Bhatta Goswami and also a member of the famous ‘troika’ of Jiva Goswami’s shiksha disciples along with Shyamananda Pandita and Narottama Dasa. These three devotees were also members of the first book distribution party sent by Jiva Goswami to Bengal for distributing the books of the Six Goswamis. Shrinivasa Acharya and Narottama were also members of the famous parikrama of Vraja Mandala led by Raghava Pandita Goswami that retraced the original parikrama route taken by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Besides the baithaka of Shrinivasa, there is also a small shrine containing the Deities named Radha Madhava. Shrinivasa Acharya wrote the famous prayers glorifying the Six Goswamis of Vrindavana known as Shri Shri Sad-goswami-ashtaka. According to the Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika, Shrinivasa Acharya is Mani Manjari in Krishna’s Vrindavana pastimes.
